I have always had a passion for books and for the past four years I was honored with an appointment to the American Library Association CODES Notable Books Council. Now I am starting on a new adventure, the American Library Association CODES The Reading List book award for genre fiction.

Sunday, November 11, 2007

The Raw Shark Texts by Steven Hall

One of my favorite movies is Memento in which, every morning the main character awakes to find he has no memory. He resorts to notes and even tattoos to try to solve the question of his existence and to solve a murder. When I started The Raw Shark Texts I thought that this was heading down a similar road with the main character receiving daily letters from "Eric Sanderson #1" to help him navigate his life. It turns into something completely different with the introduction of a conceptual shark who is wiping his mind of memory over and over again. Once he hooks up with Scout also on the run from her own metaphysical predator things get really weird.

This was one of the more inventive books that I have read in recent years and I was highly entertained. If you are into experimental literature you may really enjoy this.